Honor
by TheAUWalker
Summary: Mifune lived by a simple code that to others seemed so incredibly complex. He swore not to love again, but the blonde Death Scythe worked her way into his heart. MifunexMarie. One shot.


Mifune lived by a simple code that to others seemed incredibly compex.

He was a simple man, and didn't ask for much in his life. When he got lonely, he had Angela, but it was only when he'd stated this to a friend that he realized that there was so much more.

His friend paid the bill and told him to get a girlfriend.

Mifune remained sitting there for hours, dumbfounded. A girlfriend? For him? He didn't even know he could love.

Mifune was content with his life. He kept a steady job at the DWMA teaching his craft, and went home to a nice little place in the forest.

Never once had he thought about love.

Well, that was a lie, he admitted to himself. It had crossed his mind a few times, but he never dwelled on it.

He decided to simply open his eyes.

He soon fell for a beautiful brown-haired girl. Her father owned the sword shop he visited sometimes, and he'd asked her out to dinner.

Mifune was handsome, smart, and could kick ass, which was what a lot of girls wanted. The girl sitting across from him was no exception.

He loved her so much, and it broke his heart when she fell for someone else.

It happened again, and again, and again. The perfect girl, the perfect love, until-BAM. A blow to his heart that his love was not returned.

He pondered on it, tried to see if it was something he could fix, but he never knew what it was.

So Mifune gave up on love all together.

Unfortunately, he realized that you couldn't just decide to stop loving.

He fell for the pretty blond DeathScythe, Marie Mjolnir.

His heart was hardened when he arrived at the DWMA, and about ten minutes after the dismissal bell rang on his first day, he heard the quick clacking of heels down the hall.

"Hi!" A friendly voice called from behing him, and Mifune paused in locking up his classroom door.

"Hi." He answered coolly, turning, switching the piece of straw to the other side of his mouth and shoving his hands in his pockets.

He was met with a enthusiastic looking woman with an eyepatch.

Blonde waves fell over her shoulders, and she was dressed mostly in black.

She smiled at him and stuck a hand out to shake.

"Marie Mjolnir. I help teach Stein's class."

He nodded. "Mifune."

"It's nice to meet you, Mifune!" She responded cheerfully. "I just wanted to welcome you to the DWMA."

"Great. Thanks." He responded flatly.

Her smile faltered a bit.

He wasn't trying to be unfriendly, but it was his natural defense with strangers.

Footsteps came down the corridor, and the woman's face lit up. "Ah, there's Stein. I told him to come down and meet you." She gave him that excited grin again.

When Stein rounded the corner, he eyed Mifune up and down.

"Hi." He finally said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and tapping the ash onto the floor.

Mifune nodded in response.

"Franken Stein." The man responded, stepping forward to shake Mifune's hand. "E.A.T., Class Crescent Moon."

"Mifune."

"Ah, so you're the famed swordsman Black*Star is always complaining about. Is he in your class?"

"Unfortunately."

Stein laughed good-naturedly. Mifune's eyes darted between the two and he took one of his hands out of his pockets to grab his brown coat, which was slipping off his shoulder.

"I have to get going, so-"

"See you tomorrow!" Marie burst out happily.

He glanced at them one last time before going the opposite way.

O-o-o-o

Weeks of the school year passed by quickly, and Mifune got progressively more annoyed by Black*Star.

Another thing hadn't changed. Marie always came to see him after class.

He had started to feel a pang in his heart when he saw her, and he cursed himself for it.

"Mifune!"

Damn.

He paused in locking up the door, closing his eyes briefly before turning around.

Today, though, he noticed she looked different. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair askew, and he noticed her hands were clenching and unclenching.

"Yes?"

"Oh, Mifune..."

He felt his eyes narrow.

A tear threatened to fall down her cheek, and she looked ready to collapse.

In an instant, he was in front of her, and she fell forward into his arms.

She sobbed into his shoulder, and Mifune hesitantly snaked his arms around her back.

After a while, she drew back, wiping her eye.

"I'm sorry." She said weakly, sadly. "It's just that...oh, Mifune, we broke up!"

Mifune searched her face. He had no idea the woman in front of him had been dating, and it gave an odd little twinge in his chest that was rather uncomfortable.

"Broke up...?"

"I only met him a few days ago," Marie sniffed, wiping her nose, "but it seemed so perfect! Then..."

For some reason, he felt the urge to hit something.

"What did he do to you?"

His voice was hard, and Marie looked up in suprise.

"He...he called me a fat, ugly, clingy bitch."

Marie burst into tears, and Mifune took her into his arms again.

"I'm sorry for crying on you like this, but no one would understand. Stein...he doesn't know what love is like, and everyone else...oh, I'm so sorry! I really am clingy, aren't I..."

"You're not clingy. You have to understand that he was wrong."

At his cold tone, Marie stopped crying in shock.

"You're not ugly, or fat, or clingy. You're a wonderful person, and I..."

His voice trailed off, and he inwardly cursed himself for letting his thoughts gain freedom.

Marie looked up at him in silent wonder, her eyes shining with the tears that still remained.

"Kami..." He swore, pressing a hand to his head and turning away quickly.

"Mifune?"

He didn't turn.

"Did you-"

"Yes, now come over for tea sometime, okay?"

With that, Mifune's brown coat followed him out the door.

O_o-oo_

The next day, Marie didn't come down to see him, and Mifune made it home in silence, save for Angela's chattering.

He was in the middle of slashing up a few target dummies in the dojo when there was a knock on his door.

Wiping his forehead, Mifune placed the katana on a shelf before walking barefoot to the door.

He opened it, and Marie smiled nervously at him. She glanced down at his bare chest, glistening with sweat, and her cheeks flamed red.

"Yes?" He asked, gently chewing the reed in his mouth.

"Erm...I was..." She scratched the back of her head, staring at the floor.

"Would you like to come in?" He asked suddenly.

She nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. He stepped back to allow her to come in, and she raised her head at the sound of Angela humming in the other room.

She followed him to the kitchen, where he poured them some tea. They sat down on the couch, and it was silent.

"How are you?" He asked her quietly.

Her fingers curled around her cup of tea, and her bowed head caught the steam that curled up into her face.

"I'm fine. I...I'm sorry if I'm intruding..." She glanced once more at his bare chest.

"You aren't." Mifune replied.

"Thanks." She said quietly. "For...just having me over."

He nodded, placing his untouched drink on the table.

"Would you...would you mind if I trained a little?"

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Of course."

O-o-oo-

She came a few days a week, slamming her fists into the dummies with barely contained fury.

She was letting out all her emotions, and Mifune was content with her prescence, respectfully letting her use the shower, sometimes stay for dinner.

Stein hated him.

Mifune could see it in the man's eyes at school, the way he looked at him was like the way you'd look at a troublesome fly.

Mifune suspected Stein was jealous that Marie was starting to spend a lot of time with him, but really, Stein had nothing to be jealous of...right?

He tried to pretend there was nothing between himself and Marie, but he couldn't deny how he felt when she passed him freshly out of the shower, only clad in a towel, her creamy skin glistening with beads of water-

Mifune had to shake his head sharply to rid his mind of the thoughts that ran through his head. It was improper, against his code to be even THINKING about doing those things...

Yet sometimes at night when he was lying in his bed, Angela snuggled up against his chest, he allowed himself to think of the foolish fantasy that she felt the same way.

It was torture, the fact that he knew it was starting all over again, the horrible process of wishful thinking. No matter what he did, the samurai could not stop thinking about her.

She seemed to tease him, with the subtle sway of her hips as she walked past, then way her shirt rode up her waist as she reached up to take a cup from a high cabinet, how her shirt's neckline seemed to constantly slip lower...

He wanted to pound his head repeatedly onto his desk when visions of slender hips filled his mind.

Sometimes he'd felt a flare in his chest when her cheeks lightly became tinted pink when she looked at him. Maybe, just maybe...

No. She didn't love him, and Mifune felt his heart grow hard.

It was one day that nearly drove him over the edge. They were training, and Mifune stole a glance...

A mistake.

By the end of training, he was nearly shaking with supressed emotion. He was holding it in, he had to live by his code...

"Mifune?"

His heart skipped a beat as her creamy, slender legs appeared in his vision. A hand reached out to pull him up from the floor where he'd sat to take a break.

He took it, and she was looking into his eyes, her face full of concern...

"Mifune? Are you okay? You're shaking..."

She placed her hands on his shoulders and sat him down on a bench.

He pressed a hand to his face briefly before abruptly getting up to go to the kitchen for some water to splash over his face. He needed to get a hold of himself...

Marie had taken his place on the bench when he came back.

As he approached, she suddenly swayed a little.

"Marie?"

"Just a little woozy there for a second..."

He frowned and came closer, bending his head down slightly.

She looked up into his eyes, and time stopped.

Mifune could hear his heart thudding away inside his chest.

Marie lifted her face a centimeter closer, barely noticeable, but they both knew the meaning of the gesture.

His mind was roaring at him to move away, move away, but he ignored it and bent down to meet her lips with his.

She made a noise into the kiss, and her arms crept up to go around his neck, bringing him closer.

It was wrong. They were colleagues with a proffesional relationship, they shouldn't be kissing in his hallway.

Mifune couldn't stop his hands from caressing her face, running his fingers through her hair...

It had been so long since he'd kissed someone, so long since fire erupted in his chest and gut...

They broke apart, each breathing hard and starting at the other.

"Mifune..." Marie whispered.

He lowered his lids lustfully and bent down to attack her neck with his mouth.

She gave a little gasp, her hands flying up to his neck again.

All rational thoughts flew out of his mind. He was consumed by lust, and nothing would bring him back.

"Shall we take this somewhere more...private?" He breathed into her ear.

She only nodded, and he carried her away.

-oo-_o

Mifune's internal clock promptly woke him up at six on the chilly Saturday morning.

He gently removed his arm from Marie's grasp, retrieved his pants from across the room, and slid open the door that led outside to the wraparound porch.

Mifune sat down and let his bare feet dangle over the edge.

He placed his head in his hands and thought about what he'd done.

What he'd done last night was violating his code of honor. Taking advantage of a woman, submissive or not, was only allowed after marriage or a stable romance. He'd lost himself, consumed in the fact that it was actually happening again, after so long...

He was deprived, he admitted that, but it was not an excuse. He barely knew Marie in truth, it was not even a month...

Mifune hated himself.

The door slid open, and he hated himself even more.

"Mifune?"

He didn't respond, only hunching his shoulders slightly.

"Are you okay?"

Marie's footsteps softly padded over to him.

"I'm sorry."

"W-what?"

"For what I did...it was wrong."

Marie must have sensed the inner turmoil in his voice, and she sat down next to him.

She was wearing his shirt, and he flinched.

She cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder. "Mifune?"

"I took advantage of you. We're not even a couple...I'm sorry."

"Mifune...I don't know what you're talking about. You didn't take advantage of me, I wanted it too. And we don't have to be a couple..."

"You don't understand! I can't do something like that...it's against the rules I live by."

Marie said nothing, she only wrapped her arms around him.

"Please don't feel bad."

"Marie...answer me this."

She lifted her head from his shoulder at his harsh tone.

"How do you feel about me?"

"Mifune, I..."

"Just say it." He spat bitterly. "It won't hurt me. It'll just be like all the other things women think about me."

He got up and prepared to pass through the doorway.

"Angela will be waking up soon, I'll be inside." Mifune said coldly.

He couldn't bear to tell her to get out. In honesty, he wanted to be alone. No Angela, no Marie, no DWMA to go to on Monday...

He had to show up today, anyway, to finish up his grading.

Mifune slammed a pan on the stove with fury, cracking multiple eggs and then tossing in various ingredients.

Marie watched him from the doorway.

She swallowed, but didn't say anything. She did love the man in front of her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it because she was so scared he wouldn't say it back.

Mifune distributed the eggs onto two different plates and walked out the door.

"Tell Angela I'll be outside." He said roughly, and shut the door.

Marie wordlessly nodded, pressing her lips tightly together. She ate slowly, and when sleepy-eyed Angela arrived in the kitchen, she tried to put on a smile.

"Mifune?" Angela asked tiredly.

"He's outside, Angela. Would you like some breakfast?"

As the little girl ate, she started to chatter away, and Marie nodded without really listening as she cleaned up.

When the last plate had been cleaned and placed in the cabinet, Marie set Angela up with some crayons and coloring books and stepped outside.

Mifune was perched on the handgrip of a katana, decapitating straw-stuffed targed dummies as they flew towards him on ropes suspended in the trees.

Marie watched in silent awe as the samurai's sword littered the ground with stuffed heads and excess straw.

When he jumped down and turned, his eyes were so full of pain that it made her heart skip a beat.

He was weak, dragging his sword along the ground as he walked over. His shoulders were hunched, and Marie knew it had been a mistake to leave him alone.

He was being torn up, ripped to pieces by the thought that he had failed his code, disobeyed his laws. It was torturing him.

"Mifune!"

She ran to him as he fell to his knees in front of her.

"Please, Mifune, you have to stop torturing yourself!"

He only numbly shook his head and stumbled to his feet, gathering his coat from its perch on a low hanging branch and taking off in the direction of Shibusen.

Marie stared after him, fear prickling in her stomach. She hurriedly rushed inside, the door slamming behind her, causing Angela to look up from her coloring.

Marie whipped out her cell phone, staring at the ceiling with tears prickling in her eyes.

"Maka? Yes, hi, I need you to come watch Angela for a bit. Thanks."

Marie anxiously tapped her fingers against the counter until she heard the faint roar of Soul's motorcycle.

"See you later, Angela!" Marie called as she rushed out the door, almost crashing into Maka.

"Marie-sen-"

"Thanks, Maka. I'll be back later."

She left a dumbfounded Maka behind, and started on the road to Shibusen.

When she arrived, all was quiet. Marie made her way up the steps as fast as she could, but once she got inside, she stopped.

What could she even do? She didn't even know where he was.

Marie tried to shake the thoughts out of her head and made her way down to Mifune's classroom. All was quiet, except for her heels clacking on the stone floor.

"M-Miss Marie?"

She turned around to see Crona poking his head nervously out of the door. She'd completely forgotten she passed Crona.

"Hi, Crona. Is it okay if we talk later?"

Crona nodded and closed his door.

"Wait! Crona!"

Crona's head came out again, looking a little scared.

"Did Mifune come this way? Did you hear anybody?"

"Y-yes..."

Ragnarok chose the moment to appear, popping out of Crona's back and pulling his hair.

"Damn right! He looked pretty depressed, too, what did you do?"

Marie simply waved a goodbye to Crona and continued rushing down the corridor.

_Am I going the right way?_

Marie stopped, panting. She honestly had no idea where she was.

Her only hope was to find someone, but Crona was too far behind her now.

_Spirit!_

Marie turned on her heel and crashed into said DeathScythe, who had been standing behind her, sipping his coffee, coming down the stairs.

"Oh, hey, Marie!" He said cheerfully.

"Spirit, where's Mifune's classroom?" the blonde weapon demanded.

He looked suprised. "Um...it's back there."

"Damn." Marie swore.

"Why are you trying to find him, anyway?"

Marie simply looked at Spirit.

What was she supposed to say?

She said nothing, only nodding and turning on her heel.

"See you, Spirit!" she called as she raced down the corridor.

Finally, _finally_, she stumbled upon his classroom.

She opened the door, and he was sitting on his desk.

She knew he'd come here to be alone, but she couldn't stop herself from walking over.

"Mifune..."

her voice shook, and she desperately tried to make it strong.

"I know by the rules you live by...something was wrong with what we did. But...don't you think you deserve a break? You're the only man I know who is religious about how he lives his life."

Marie still couldn't figure out exactly why he was so upset.

Mifune muttered something about betrayal, and Marie quietly stepped closer.

"I...promised White*Star before I killed him...I'd always live by the honorable code."

Marie listened.

"I don't know what it means to do something that I'm not supposed to. I don't know what to do."

Mifune shifted on the desk, running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe it's time to try something...different. Maybe...Mifune, I...you need to let White*Star go."

"How can I?" he snapped. "When the blue-haired idiot is always bouncing off the walls? It's been what I've been living by my whole life. Doing something unorthodox...I've betrayed you, too."

"For Death's sake, Mifune, I love you, okay?"

In the silence, Mifune slowly turned around.

"What?"

Marie only looked back at him, tears brimming in her eye.

"I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to accept it."

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

She walked over to sit with him on the desk.

They sat calmly for hours, regarding the giant drawing Black*Star had made on his wall of his own name.

Mifune rested his chin on Marie's shoulder.

By his honor, he'd never let her down.


End file.
